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Broadly speaking, the term 'religious language' refers to
statements or claims made about God or gods. Many problems arise in
the field of religious language, but our principal focus in this
episode will be the problems that arise within the Abrahamic
religions (that is, Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Simply put,
it is unclear how one could use human-made language, to talk
meaningfully about something infinitely powerful, infinitely
knowledgeable and infinitely loving. This problem is worrisome to
believers as it has the potential to undermine their traditions; if
we cannot speak meaningfully about God, then the texts and
teachings of Abrahamic faiths can only be deemed unintelligible
(i.e. impossible to understand). In his Dialogues Concerning
Natural Religion, the 18th Century Scottish philosopher David Hume
alluded to the problem as follows: “But when we look beyond human
affairs… when we carry our speculations into the two eternities,
before and after the present state of things; into the creations
and formulation of the universe; the existence and properties of
spirits; the powers and operations of one universal Spirit existing
without beginning and without end; omnipotent, omniscient,
immutable, infinite and incomprehensible: We must be far removed
from the smallest tendency to scepticism not to be apprehensive,
that we have here got quite the reach of our faculties.” In Part I
we’re discussing ‘the via negativa’, in Part II, Thomas Aquinas and
Ludwig Wittgenstein, in Part III, the verification and
falsification principles, and in Part IV we’ll be engaging in some
further analysis and discussion.

About the Podcast

A weekly 'informal and informative' philosophy podcast inspiring and supporting students, teachers, academics and free-thinkers worldwide. All episodes are available at www.thepanpsycast.com.